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Copyright 2001 The Washington Post

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The Washington Post

October 17, 2001, Wednesday, Final Edition

SECTION: FINANCIAL; Pg. E12

LENGTH: 506 words

HEADLINE: EU Probe Finds No Terrorist Link to Suspect Stock Sales

BYLINE: William Drozdiak, Washington Post Foreign Service

DATELINE: BRUSSELS, Oct. 16

BODY:

European Union finance ministers said today that they are still investigating "unusual transactions" in
stock trading across Europe before the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States but there is still no
evidence linking the trades to the perpetrators.

The EU ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, heard a report from a committee of European regulators
who said that at times before the attacks, trading volumes and price movements in sensitive sectors ~
such as airlines, insurance, luxury goods and tourism -- greatly exceeded normal levels. But the
regulators said they could not find convincing signs of "terrorist-related activity" in the markets. EU
officials said investigators were focusing on trades involving American and United airlines as well as
Munich and Swiss reinsurance companies, which have large exposure to losses in the World Trade
Towers.

Since the hijacked airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last month, stock
market regulators around the world have been investigating whether people with prior knowledge of the
attacks tried to capitalize on the carnage by dumping shares in companies whose stock might be hurt by
resulting drops in business.

On Sept. 22, for example, Ernst Welteke, president of Germany's central bank, said an early review
"makes us sure that people connected to the terrorists must have been trying to profit from this tragedy."
He disclosed no details.

EU officials said they are working closely with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Stephen
Cutler, the SEC's acting director of enforcement, has called the inquiry "a matter of the highest priority."

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LexisNexis
Copyright 2001 The Washington Post

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The Washington Post

September 23, 2001, Sunday, Final Edition

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A25

LENGTH: 949 words

HEADLINE: Germans Probe Likely Links Between Profits and Terrorists

BYLINE: William Drozdiak, Washington Post Foreign Service

DATELINE: BRUSSELS, Sept. 22

BODY:

The president of Germany's central bank said today there was mounting evidence that people connected
to the attacks in New York and Washington sought to profit from the tragedy by engaging in "terrorism
insider trading" on European stock and commodity markets.

Ernst Welteke, head of the Bundesbank, said a preliminary review by German regulators and bank
researchers showed there were highly suspicious sales of shares in airlines and insurance companies,
along with major trades in gold and oil markets, before Sept. 11 that suggest they were conducted with
advance knowledge of the attacks.

Welteke said his researchers came across what he considers almost irrefutable proof of insider trading
as recently as Thursday, but he refused to release details pending further consultations with regulators in
other countries.

"What we found makes us sure that people connected to the terrorists must have been trying to profit
from this tragedy," he said at a meeting of European finance ministers and central bankers. Besides
massive short selling of airlines and insurance stocks, Welteke said "there was a fundamentally
inexplicable rise" in world oil prices just before the attacks that suggest certain groups or people were
buying oil contracts that were then sold for a much higher price. He said German researchers also
detected movements in gold markets "which need explaining."

"If you look at the movements in markets before and after the attacks, it really makes your brow
furrow," Welteke said. "It is extremely difficult to really verify it, but we are confident we will be able
to pinpoint the source in at least one or two cases."

The comments by the central bank chief of Europe's biggest economy were the first public confirmation

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